Sunday Fun-day in the woods

Hi friends! It has been a while since my last blog, for sure! Brock and I spent about a month back home in New Jersey and Fil has been away in the Czech Republic and currently Norway, BUT Brock and I are back in Germany and back to exploring!

We jumped right back into the swing of things by planning a Halloween party for Fil’s company, which was a huge hit, carved pumpkins AND met Brock’s kindergarten teacher. That’s right, Brock is going to start attending the German kindergarten in our village! We are very excited, and he seemed to really like being there when we went the other day for orientation. 

To break up all the Halloween festivities (still more to come tomorrow) we had a Sunday Fun-day at the Biospharenhaus Pfalzerwald/Nordvogesen in Fischbach. The park was basically a wilderness playground. The main attraction was the Baumwipfelpfad, canopy walk. Up among the tree-tops we ran around a wooden boardwalk learning about the trees, bugs, and animals of the area. Although many people have told me that Germany reminds them of Pennsylvania, I never felt that connection until today. With all the Autumnal colors of the forest in season I was instantly reminded of my college experience in Pennsylvania.

The park also has a really great museum with all exhibits in German, French, and English. Brock really liked one exhibit where he was able to push buttons and make the animals appear on the projected forest scene on the wall. He especially liked it when the frogs hopped out of hiding.

I have mentioned in other blog posts that slides over here are extreme. Here is a prime example. We stood by this one for quite some time and did not see one person brave it.

The English brochure I picked up said that the slide was 40 meters long… almost 44 yards long. So who wants to come visit and try it out?

The wooden playground was a bit mature for Brock but he enjoyed what he could, and like his daddy, had to look in the water for fish.

Getting to this park was a quick reminder of German driving. After 45 minutes of cruising at nearly 90 miles per hour on the Autobahn we exited to drive the rest of the way in absolute anxiety. Germany LOVES to have roads that are not wide enough for two lanes and yet allow them to be two lanes. I am not joking. For me the anxiety starts when ahead of me I see the lines on the edge of the road curve in on each side and the center line dissapear. If two American sized SUV’s were going in opposite directions, one of them would simply have to pull off the road because they absolutely would not fit. Just for fun, those roads are always the most curvaceous. Clearly, as evidenced by my autobahn comfort speed I am not afraid of speed… but on these roads it is another story. The signs clearly say the limit is 100 kilometers/hour and yet I barely squeak past 40. There is no way I can better explain these curvy, narrow roads that with my speed as an example. I am convinced that German drivers are the best in the world.

I cannot even begin to explain how fast this year has gone. Fil and I tallied it up and between my trips home and all his TDY, we figured that we have actually spent more time apart than we have together during these last 10 months. Hopefully we can get through these last 2 months without any more trips apart… except for my retreat next weekend.

I get to spend 3 whole days away on a quilt retreat with the Rhineland-Pfalz Quilt Guild, and I could not be more excited! First things first, I HAVE to finish the paper pieced prairie star I have been on and off working on for 2 years now. Hopefully I get to work on one of the other 5 or so projects I have stacked up, but I really want to finish the star first. As you can guess my quilting time is pretty limited, and more so now because I am working on Brock’s Christmas present, a felt play house with pickable fruits, vegetables, and flowers. So far it is pretty darling, but I will save the big reveal for when it is finished.

After that it’s Thanksgiving. Last year we ate on base at the Military Dining Facility (DFac or Mess Hall) and although many people rave about it, I almost cried and couldn’t eat it. So this year I am hosting, naturally. We are inviting our German friends and some others so they can experience a real American Thanksgiving and I just cannot wait. The turkey may just barely fit in my oven, but it will be roasted to perfection. Anyone who knows me knows I love to play hostess, and although I do not have my china set here, we left it in storage to avoid breaking on the big move, this Thanksgiving will be put on to the nines, just like Grammy would do. My menu is set, so all I have to do is plan out the shopping and more importantly the oven schedule. My German oven is probably the same size as your American microwave so understand, this Thanksgiving is more of a mathematical equation than anything else to have all the dishes hot and ready at the same time.

Happy Halloween y’all!